1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire rope clamp. More particularly, the present invention relates to a U-shaped clamp having a first plate portion and a second plate portion on opposite sides of a central fold which, when moved closer together, clamp onto a wire rope which passes through an opening in the central fold.
2. Prior Art
A variety of wire rope clamps have been proposed. Perhaps the most common form of a wire rope clamp is a U-bolt and saddle combination. This device includes a U-bolt member of circular cross section with two parallel spaced apart threaded legs. A separate saddle member have openings to receive the legs is provided to straddle the two legs. The saddle is urged closer to the U end of the U-bolt member by tightening two nuts onto the threaded legs. Because the devices include four separate pieces, assembly may be difficult. Further, because of the circular cross section of the U-bolt member, a single concentrated contact with unconstrained pressure may be exerted onto the wire rope and thereby distort and weaken the wire rope. Further, when two sections of the wire rope are connected, they typically become twisted and do not remain in a single plane causing uneven pressure.
Postelwait, U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,680, discloses a wire rope clamp which utilizes two identical bolt/saddle members. While such a design attempts to address difficulties in assembly by providing bolts 12, 36 which do not rotate after insertion into saddles 10, 34. However, the details regarding wire rope engaging surfaces 18 and 42 are not disclosed and thus distortion and weakening of the wire rope is still a possibility. Also, this design appears to be expensive to manufacture.
Karr, U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,134, discloses a rope clamping device in the form of a two identical hinge plates 11 pivotally connected by hinge pin 13 and fastened or secured by a locking pin 15. Karr also teaches the provision of serpentine grooves 39 to impact necessary frictional engagement to retain the rope segments within the clamp 11. While the use of plate members is desirable to avoid damage to the wire rope, the provision of frictional engagement by means of serpentine groove is overly complex and expensive to manufacture and requires excessive time when used to thread the wire rope into the groove. Further, there is no means to further tighten the device after the lock pin is in place.
Rushing, U.S. Pat. No. 6,327,753, discloses a cable clamp which utilizes a traveling block 3 which moves within housing 2 by turning threaded member 4. The block secures the cables 16 into channels 15 provided in the housing by applying downward pressure thereon. While the Rushing reference provides a device which addresses the many problems associated with the typical U-bolt and saddle designs, such a device is overly complex and expensive to manufacture.
Thus, there remains a need for a simple and cost-effective wire rope clamp which provides a solution to the problems associated with typical U-bolt and saddle designs.